Photo: Ashton B Crew · CC BY-SA 3.0Ankeny has lower unemployment (1.9%) than 86% of U.S. towns
20% of workers have no commute at all, against 11% across Iowa. Jobs and income earn Ankeny A+; getting around on foot earns it B. Household incomes here are higher than in 82% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Ankeny: the gist
Ankeny trades workers with the towns around it
Ankeny has about as many jobs (32,834) as working residents (33,327), but they are mostly different people: 25,877 residents leave for work each day while 25,384 people come in. Only 23% of the jobs in Ankeny are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Ankeny and Des Moines trade workers both ways
Des Moines is the top workplace for Ankeny residents (26%) and also where the most people who work in Ankeny come from (17% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Ankeny has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Ankeny went from 21,227 in 2013 to 32,834 in 2023, +55%. The jobs ↓
A lot of Ankeny works from home
20% of Ankeny workers work from home, against 11% across Iowa. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Ankeny
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Ankeny is better than 95% of U.S. towns, #5 of 140 in Iowa. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Ankeny’s grade. It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ankeny could be anywhere from A to A+.
Who leaves Ankeny for work, and who comes in
On a workday 25,877 residents head out to work, 7,450 work right here, and 25,384 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.99 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
26% of working residents work in Des Moines
Where Ankeny clocks in
11% of workers
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
What work there is in Ankeny: 32,834 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ankeny, 2013 → 2023: 21,227 → 32,834. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Ankeny’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Ankeny, about 21 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ankeny workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 32,159 commuters (the 20% who work from home are left out). Across Iowa: 86% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Short hops and long hauls from Ankeny
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Ankeny, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ankeny is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns, #88 of 140 in Iowa. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 4.4% across Iowa.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 40,225 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 22% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 56% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 1.8% of Ankeny households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Ankeny’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ankeny is 16th of 580 U.S. towns of 54,000 to 105,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Fishers IN | 104,812 | $130K | 4.0% | 2.8% | 14% | A+ |
| 15 | Westfield IN | 66,258 | $123K | 3.6% | 2.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 16 | Ankeny IA | 77,833 | $108K | 4.2% | 1.9% | 22% | A+ |
| 17 | Newton MA | 90,741 | $190K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 12% | A+ |
| 18 | Maple Grove MN | 73,893 | $133K | 4.0% | 3.5% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 142 | West Des Moines IA | 74,224 | $87K | 8.4% | 2.4% | 30% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 244 | Ames IA | 68,220 | $61K | 25.5% | 5.8% | 52% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 279 | Iowa City IA | 76,229 | $59K | 26.3% | 4.6% | 57% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 580 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | D |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Ankeny, the top three, the last and three more from Iowa.
Ankeny and the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Ankeny workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ankeny | – | A+ | B | 21 min | $108,198 |
| Saylorville | under 2% | B+ | C− | 18 min | $117,821 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Ankeny’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Ankeny: questions
What is the median household income in Ankeny?
$108,198 (±$7,800) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ankeny?
4.2%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ankeny?
21 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 20% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ankeny work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Des Moines (26%, 11 mi), West Des Moines (11%, 16 mi), Urbandale (5%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ankeny walkable?
Ankeny is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.9 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ankeny without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ankeny, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ankeny
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.